Qisha Yansheng Temple

Qisha Yansheng Temple

Qisha Yansheng Temple: Renowned for carving the Buddhist scripture collection known as the Qisha Canon, its full title being the Song Dynasty Qisha Yansheng Temple Carved Edition of the Buddhist Canon. It is a world-famous compilation of various Buddhist scriptures, named after the temple in Qisha, Pingjiang Prefecture (now Suzhou), where the carving began.

According to A Brief Record of Qisha Chan Temple by the Southern Song Dynasty monk Weiji: “The temple complex included over a hundred structures such as the Hall of Heavenly Kings, the Hall of the White-Robed Guanyin, the Mahavira Hall, the Guanyong Hall, and the Scripture Depository. In particular, the Mahavira Hall overlooked thousands of acres of blue waves, standing majestically and magnificently. No other temple in the Wu region could rival its grandeur, making it a prominent monastic complex. Along with Yunyan Temple, Baosheng Temple, and Lingyan Temple, it was known as one of the ‘Four Great Chan Temples of the Wu Region.’” In the second year of Shaoding during the reign of Emperor Lizong of the Southern Song Dynasty (1229 AD), monks Qinggui and Qingyu from Qisha Chan Temple built a scripture workshop just north of Qisha Yansheng Temple and began carving the Qisha Canon. The carving project started in the mid-Southern Song Dynasty and was only completed during the Yuan Dynasty after additional blocks were carved and supplemented. Spanning both the Song and Yuan dynasties, the entire process took 93 years. In 1931, wooden-block versions of the Qisha Canon were discovered at Kaiyuan Temple and Wolong Temple in Shaanxi, with about eighty percent of the collection still intact. Later, the full canon was also found in the main hall of Chongshan Temple in Taiyuan, Shanxi. At Lingyan Mountain Temple in Suzhou, after enduring six to seven hundred years of history, four volumes of the original Song Dynasty-carved Qisha Canon are still preserved to this day, considered a rare treasure and now designated as a national cultural relic.

In 2006, villagers from Qisha Village raised funds to rebuild the temple. The newly constructed temple complex covers an area of 1,000 square meters, with a building area of 450 square meters and a main hall spanning 300 square meters. It enshrines the Buddhas of the Three Ages, along with the Four Great Bodhisattvas—Manjushri, Samantabhadra, Guanyin, and Ksitigarbha. There are also several living quarters. The temple is managed by Venerable Lijing from the Lingyan Mountain Branch of the China Buddhist Academy.

Luzhi Town: Luzhi, located 25 kilometers southeast of Suzhou, borders the Wusong River to the north, faces Chenghu Lake to the south, connects to the Suzhou Industrial Park to the west, and adjoins Kunshan to the east. The town covers an area of 115 square kilometers (including 40 square kilometers of Chenghu Lake), and governs 16 administrative villages and 2 communities, with a total population of over 200,000. Major roads such as the Suzhou-Shanghai Expressway, the Outer Ring Expressway, Luzhi Avenue, and Dongfang Avenue run through the town, giving it a superior location and convenient transportation.

Luzhi is a water town with a history of over 2,500 years and profound cultural heritage. It has been called “the foremost water town in China” by Mr. Fei Xiaotong. The town features numerous cultural and historical attractions… More information about Luzhi Town++